


By Your Side

by Hamyheikki



Category: The Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel - Michael Scott
Genre: Action & Romance, Established Relationship, Other, Shadowrealm
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-13
Updated: 2020-09-13
Packaged: 2021-03-07 02:48:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,465
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26449549
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Hamyheikki/pseuds/Hamyheikki
Summary: After a one mistake too many, Dee is thrown into a previously unknown Shadowrealm as his punishment.Luckily, he does not have to make it through alone.
Relationships: John Dee/Excalibur
Kudos: 5





	By Your Side

**Author's Note:**

> So, this is basically a challenge thrown to me by the lovely folks at SINF discord.  
> Jokes on you guys, I actually had fun while writing this!

Dr. John Dee had always thought of himself as a fit man.

He had a regular, well-balanced diet. He exercised, he maintained a basic level of competence in acts such as jogging and swimming. After his long stay on Earth, he was fairly certain he could confidently refer to himself as a healthy, competent member of Humani race. 

And yet, he was out of breath.

He tried to shut his ears from the roars echoing from behind as he dashed through the thick undergrowth. Squeezing his eyes shut, the panting man leapt over a narrow ravine, the stone sword Excalibur firmly in his grip. He lashed left and right, clearing out a path to the nearly impenetrable wall of trees and plants, most of which he couldn’t name, and some he had never even encountered before. He cursed, he swinged, and almost stumbled down when the vines all around him suddenly gave in. With his feet slipping on the wet mud, Dee slid into a full stop, eyes widening when his mind caught up with the pounding shakes of the body.

_The forest ends. An open field, nothing else._

His hands trembled, Excalibur falling flatly to his side. In front of him, a meadow spread out, soft leaves of grass swaying lightly in the wind. There were no more trees, no cover of any kind. Merely an exposed stretch of land, a sight mocking him for bothering to run in the first place.

The howls were getting closer.

Tightening his hold of the sword, Dee took off once again, making a sharp turn to the left and running along the treeline. There was bound to be a rock, a dried-out creek, _a large bush!_ He ignored the burning of his chest and the growing weariness heading down his legs. 

_Just a bit further. Just until a shelter appears._

When his eyes finally settled on the small break within an extensive rock formation, Dee let out a sigh he hadn’t even noticed he’d been holding back.

Wedging past the thin opening was a challenge in and of itself, not to mention having to try and drag Excalibur in at the same time. It was a relief to find that the crack did in fact grow larger, and after a while of squirming, Dee came to stand in an open cave, lodged deeply inside the rock walls. Swiftly moving away from the entrance, he made his way across the space, counting the steps as he went. He barely made it to 12 before being faced with a wall. Sighing again, the tired man simply slumped against the rocks, sliding down to sit with his front to the opening, Excalibur dropping as his arms gave out.

He was prepared for the reprimand when it came.

 _“_ ** _Do not_ ** _sever the connection.”_

“I won’t.”

Silence settled into the cave for a long moment. Slowly, Dee allowed his body to relax more against the wall, his head following suit with a thump.

_“It would be unwise to let your guard down.”_

He knew it would. Yet, his hold of the sword laxed.

 _“We_ **_cannot_ ** _protect you without the connection.”_

Dee did his best to even out his breathing. He was exhausted, _drained._ The chase had been ongoing for hours now. Half a day spent running through the wilderness. Dodging, stumbling, falling. A moment of peace. That was all he wanted.

A chance to simply _breathe._

When he eventually opened his eyes and turned his gaze downwards, the blade of the sword seemed to glow brighter. 

Tempting. 

Inviting. 

A sudden jolt of pain shot up his arm, and to his shame, Dee cried out, nearly letting go of the hilt.

_“You were never a cowardly man, John.”_

In the past, he hadn’t been, no. But as the blood curdling screams sounded out for the second time just outside the cave’s poorly-hidden entrance, Dee couldn’t quite recall why. He hadn’t asked for this. _Any of this._ A mistake, that’s all this had been, from the moment he had confessed to his Masters, to the second his feet had first touched down on the surface of this cursed Shadowrealm, meant to be his punishment. 

_Honesty has indeed proved fatal as of late._

He still had his aura, although he could feel it quietly dripping away in pitiful attempts to heal up his infested wounds from before. If his careful estimates were correct, it might last a few hours longer, should he cease its flow immediately. The first encounter with the creatures of the Realm had been another miscalculation on his part. Too much energy wasted, and nothing gained. 

Frustrated, and more shaken than he was letting himself to admit, Dee leaned forward with a grimace, sinking the sword’s shining blade deep into the ground below.

“I don’t need a lecture from _you._ Not right now.”

There was silence, lasting less than a breath.

 _“A_ **_statement_** _, not a lecture.”_

Dee, with his hands still curled around the sword’s hilt, was taken back by the sudden wave of warmth bleeding through the leather. It wormed its way upwards, rounding his wrist like a bracelet. The carved snakes, usually lifeless and still, gradually lifted their heads, and after a blink of hesitation moved to lay their metallic bodies along the sensation. Dee’s wrist, now physically connected to the sword, was pulled closer to the blade until his whole arm was in touch with the stone sword.

The figure appeared soon after.

It almost seemed to emerge out of the sword, but the shadows surrounding the small space made it impossible to say for certain. A tall, lean build, which glitched out a second later, morphing into a build chest, a round waist, and back to a height towering over his frame. The faces kept shifting as well, never seemingly able to settle for one expression or set of features. Eyes, old and young, various in color, flashed past with speed, Dee being unable to latch onto any of them properly. 

But the presence was familiar. The sense of security he hadn’t truly felt since his departure from the court of Queen Elizabeth. He knew it shouldn’t be possible, but when the entity reached out, laying its hand on his trembling shoulder, Dee would swear he could feel the comforting pressure landing. 

He leaned back. 

The figure followed.

A voice, the one he so rarely heard outside his head, was as colorless as it was gentle.

_“Why are you afraid, John?”_

It was mildly concerning, the way Excalibur’s thoughts burrowed into his, pushing aside what they deemed unworthy or irrelevant. Without a conscious effort from him, an image rose to the surface, coaxed by the silent humming close to his ear.

_“You are thinking about Them. Bothered by the confrontation.”_

In his mind’s eyes, Dee saw the two silhouettes shifting into the memory. Hard words, unfeeling gaze, aimed down at him. The pressure around his chest, the panic once he realised what was to come.

Dee clutched the sword, unconsciously drawing himself closer to it.

“It was either this or the withdrawing.” His breathing caught, cutting his sentence. 

_They gave me no choice._

A new wave of sensation washed over him. Similar to that of the first, but there was something else underneath it. Something running far deeper.

 _“We are not Them, John.”_ The warmth pushed on, twisting itself inside the rapidly beating heart.

 _“Unlike Them, We are_ **_here_** _._ _"_ The echo of the incorporeal hand moved slowly to rest gently on his cheek. _“Has there ever been a time when We have not?”_

A flood of memories sprung forth, filling Dee’s restless mind with fleeting images of battles, duels, series of close calls. In all of them, Excalibur was alongside of him, blocking blow after blow, defending and attacking with a fervor rivaling that of Dee’s own will to survive. Never once had a fatal strike landed on him, the luminous blade of Excalibur always being the one to take the hit. 

_“We have protected you in the past. Please, allow us to do so now.”_

The growls were closing in. Dee could hear the movement outside the rocks, see the shadows moving past the entrance.

His eyes darted upwards, and were met with confidence. And something he was not willing to place a name upon.

_“Shall we, John?”_

The glint of excitement was most certainly not his own.

But it was far from unwelcomed.

Carefully, Dee pushed himself off the ground. The sword, and the presence with it, were lifted as well, the physical manifestation disappearing once he’d raised the blade up to a stance.

The noises outside were becoming clearer. It wouldn’t take them long to find the entrance. 

Dee took a step forward just as a single clawed paw broke through the crack.

“We shall.”

**Author's Note:**

> I am ready for shoes to be thrown.


End file.
